Review: ‘Trouser Snake,’ Well-Done Parody of 50s Monster Movies

For fans of 2011’s horror-comedy anthology Chillerama, Alex DiVincenzo’s new short, Trouser Snake, will provide a delightful reminder of just how fun a well-done parody of classic genre films can be.

DiVincenzo’s Trouser Snake runs just five minutes, but definitely entertains for the entirety of its brief screen time. Taking a tongue-in-cheek view of ‘50s monster movies, this short homage plays more like a trailer than an actual short, but the imagery and concepts within give a series of giggles.

Poor Thomas has a bit of a problem “down there,” and his amorous girlfriend Lucy learns that his reticence to going further isn’t all due to his being a nice guy. Well — he is a nice guy, but it’s not that he’s trying to avoid taking advantage of Lucy. There’s a monster in his trousers, and it’s a quite literal one.

Despite the rather racy concept behind Trouser Snake, DiVincenzo keeps everything innocent and sweet. It’s charming, the way one can present a killer member, and yet not have everything turn into nastiness. A lot of it has to do with Alexander Gauthier, who plays Thomas. He’s got the right ‘50s-style charm and “well, gosh!” persona to keep everything on track to be more of a monster movie than a dirty picture.

Still from ‘Trouser Snake’

If nothing else, one finishes Trouser Snake wishing that DiVincenzo could turn this into a proper short film and flesh out the full story into something more. Does the titular monster run rampant all over the town? What other victims fall prey to the bite of the snake? Will Thomas ever be able to keep it in his pants?

While short and sweet, it’s a darned cute little feature director DiVincenzo has turned out here, and one hopes that Gauthier gets a chance to take Thomas to places he’s not gotten a chance to go here.

Fans who thought Trouser Snake ran too short should also do themselves a favor and check out the director’s previous short, The Horrors of AutoCorrect, which is available via Eli Roth’s Crypt TV.